Jaguar Land Rover China production to start by end of this year.

Tata Motors Ltd's Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unit plans to start making cars in China by the end of this year.

'They start to make the first prototype bodies soon, and it's almost a miracle that's come out of the ground in such a short period of time,' Jaguar Land Rover China president Bob Grace told reporters at the Beijing motor show. 'It's going to be a product from the Land Rover stable, so it’s going to be an SUV,' he said, without identifying the specific model.

The maker of Range Rover SUVs and Jaguar F-Type convertibles expects to begin selling the SUV, built by its Chinese venture with Chery Automobile Co. in Changshu, by early 2015. The vehicle will have an engine size of under 2 litres, Grace said. Manufacturing in China is key to JLR's earnings growth in the world’s largest auto market as it allows companies to avoid the nation’s 25% import tariff.

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